Our Fitness Blog

Secret to Sexy Arms in 4 Weeks or Less

Guns, guns, guns! Guns aren’t just for boys anymore! Ladies want tight, toned arms as well, especially during the summer months when we are going sleeveless. The ticket to great arms is really the most basic of exercises. THE PUSH-UP. Push-ups engage the abs and core, as well as your back and of course arms. This assists in losing weight all over your body! You don’t need any equipment and you don’t even need a gym! You can do them at the office or with your kids. So, are you doing your daily amount of push-ups to get this look? If push-ups are your least favorite thing….don’t be worried! I have an easy way to get you there. Follow my proven, step by step program to get you there in just 4 weeks or less.

LEVEL 1: FORM IS KEY!!! I can’t stress this enough. In order to get stronger we first need to focus on perfect form and for most people, this means doing them on our knees first, but go all the way down, chest to floor, with your chin up.

By dropping your neck down you will never get stronger. Period. By going chest to the floor and chin up, you will engage the proper muscles. Do 20 push-ups a day this way for 2 weeks. This will actually get easier really fast, and that’s encouraging!

LEVEL 2: Now, starting at week 2, you’ll need to first ‘bridge’ correctly on your toes, neck neutral as seen here: Next, drop ONE KNEE ONLY without moving anything else, so you are literally still in a straight line, neck neutral, etc. but part of your body weight is relieved as seen here:

NOTE: Both toes are still on the ground. Now, do the same movement…go down, chest to the floor and chin up. It is critical here not to start dropping the neck down again. This is more challenging because we have added the element of being up on just one knee, so don’t expect it to be as easy. Keep your hips and spine neutral; don’t raise your butt up towards the ceiling. No cheating! Do 20 a day this way:

LEVEL 3: In two more weeks (or sooner) you will be ready to go up on both toes!

Keep the same form as we have stated above and do as many as you can, aiming for 20. If you cannot do all 20 this way, then drop only ONE KNEE when you’ve reached your limit on both toes and finish out the reps to 20 on the one knee. Remember: once you can do them up on both toes, you never go back down to the knees until you’ve exhausted all efforts on the toes first, and you’ll NEVER do them on both knees again! Every lady that I have coached this way immediately notices a DRAMATIC difference in the muscles she uses during the push-up process. She also notices a much faster improvement in strength and definition than the method she was using before. It’s an easy method to follow and it WORKS!

FUN FACT: If you do 20 push ups a day, that’s 7,300 push-ups a year….Try it!NOTE: When you are at 9Round doing the circuit, and a push-up is part of any exercise, whether it’s during a round or between rounds, use the same techniques I’m about to explain when performing them during your 9Round workout. If you are on LEVEL 1, perform them that way. Once you move up to Level 2, perform them that way and so on. Point being, whatever level you are on using these guidelines, perform your push-ups on that level at 9Round as well until you move up to the next level.

Heather Hudson has been with 9Round since inception in 2008 and is COO and Co-Founder of 9Round Franchising. She is a black belt in Shotokan Karate and grew up with a passion for fitness and overall wellness.